FILE PHOTO: Paytm has acquired online marketplace for hyperlocal services Near.in, its first buyout since securing $680 million in funding commitments from Alibaba Group.NEW DELHI: Mobile goods and services company Paytm has acquired online marketplace for hyper-local services Near.in, its first buyout since securing $680 million in funding commitments from Chinese ecommerce giant Alibaba Group, and its affiliate Ant Financial.

The Noida-based company, which competes with the likes of Flipkart, India's largest ecommerce company, and Snapdeal, the country's largest online marketplace, has acquired Near.in in a cash-and-stock deal, estimated at between $1.5 million-$2 million (Rs 10 crore-Rs 13 crore).

Founded in 2014 by Lomesh Dutta, Sunil Goyal and Akshay Khanna, Gurgaon-based Near.in is part of the country's nascent but fast-growing online-to-offline (O2O) space, and helps consumers discover service providers like plumbers, make-up and tattoo artists in a locality. The startup covers over 100 categories, including health, home needs and wellness.

"O2O is a focus area for Paytm. Local commerce has massive potential in India, and this acquisition will help us grow the business even further," said Kiran Vasireddy, senior vice-president and head of investments for Paytm.

This is the first acquisition by Paytm, since it booked a massive $680 million in funding from Alibaba Group, and its affiliate, Ant Financial in September earlier this year, in the process becoming the largest institutional stakeholders in the Vijay Shekhar Sharma-led company.

"This is a new category for us. All the companies acquired by us till date, have had a strong presence in the O2O space. This business is still a blue ocean for us," Vasireddy said.

The acquisition of Near.in takes less than a year after the startup raised Rs 1.8 crore from prominent set of investors, list that included Anupam Mittal of Shaadi.com and HealthKart.com co-founder and Chief Executive Prashant Tandon.

In October it was reported that Paytm had invested a further $10 million (about Rs 67 crore) in online aggregator for auto rickshaw rides and a hyperlocal delivery platform Jugnoo, following its participation in a $5 million round in June earlier this year.

Apart from its O2O-focused investments, Paytm has also acquired cross-messaging platform PlusTxt in 2013, while acquiring mobile marketing platform MobiVite prior to that.

Last year, Sharma had told ET that Paytm had set aside Rs 150 crore to acquire or invest in ventures that are building consumer facing technology that will help grow Paytm, as it looks to establish its dominance, as well as stave off competition from another well-funded digital recharge and payments venture, Snapdeal-owned Freecharge.

The entire Near.in team will now be absorbed by Paytm, according to Vasireddy.